Internal-combustion engine



INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Original Filed July 18 1917 I N VEN TOR @ggmwq.

ATTORNEY.

To all whom it may concern:

. citizen of the United States,

Patented Nov. 10, 1925.

om'rsn -STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUSTIN M. WOLF, 0F PLAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO PACKARD MOTOR CAR COMPANY, OF. DETROIT, MICHIGAN. A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Application filed July 18, 1917, Serial No. 181,202. Renewed June 8, 1923.

Be it known that I, AUSTIN M. WOLF, a and a resident of Plainfield, in the county of Union and State of New ilers e'y, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Internal- Combustion Engines, of which the following 'is a specification.

My invention relates to a for-m1 of construction for lnternal combustion engines with the aim of reducing the weight of the engine as much as possible. In other words to obtain a minimum weight per horse power developed. The -predominating field for such an engine is for aeronautical use although the construction is such that it is applicable to all fields wherein the internal combustion engine can be used.

A further improvement in my construction consists of a new form of flywheel wherein the greatest massis concentrated in the rim and the web portion contains a minimum of material.

Referring to the accompanying draw ings, Fig. 1 is a cross section of my improved engine; Fig. 2is an elevation of same; Fig. 3

is an elevation of the stressed units of the engine; Fig. at is a detail, of the improved flywheel; Fig. 5 is a section of the crankcase construction; and Figs. 6 and 7 are detailed alternative constructions of the crankcase reinforcing web.

Fig. 8 is a modified form of crankcase construction; Figs. 9 and 10 show means for guiding the lower end of the cylinder into the crankcase; Figs. 11, 12, and 13 are detailed views of the stress member employed in my construction; and Fig. 1 shows the application of my invention'to an alternative form of cylinder head construction.

I will now proceed to describe my invention. Referring to Fig. 1 it will. be seen that there isa cylinder head 1 containing the valves2 and 3, the valve passages, spark plug, etc; The head 1 is made as small as possible'aand incorporates the above elements with the minimum use of metal. The head preferably made of steel tubing and as will.

be seen later the whole duty is to resist the internal stress of theexplosion and is not used to resist the reaction of the explosion tending to raise the cylinder head from the crankcase. Due to thisfact the cylinder can be screwed into the head. or held down by any other suitable means. Inthe former case the screwthread method is a satisfactory way of attachment and due to my form of construction it does not involve the difticulties experienced in an ordinary engine wherein one does not know when the cylinder will come up against the shoulder in the head, hence, making it impossible to secure the proper position of the head relative to the crankshaft center without eitherscraping the faces or shimming them.

A Water jacket is formed by the jacket material 6 which is secured to the cylinder head by means of welding, a shrinking band or other suitable method. The lower end is secured to the I cylinder by the same means, for instance, the band 7, or by means of a packing joint around the cylinder. The

jacket can be made of a stamping or sheet metal and can surround one. or a plurality of cylinders. Its shape canbe such that it hugs the cylinder in order to allow a suiticient water jacket without a surplus of water, thus preventing the cooling medium from adding unnecessary weight. The pis-.

ton 8 follows conventional construction having the connecting rod 9, which actuates the crankshaft 10. The latter is supported, at its main hearings, in the divided block 11. The crankcase 12 can be made of a stamping, the top portion having a circular opening for aligning the cylinder 5 therein. The cylinder 5 extends into this guide portion with a fit which will not restrict any elongation ,or contraction of the cylinder. No means of fastening exists at this point between the twoi'n that the cylinder transfers no stress whatsoever to the crankcase, other than side thrust of said cylinder, due to the connecting rod action. The inverted U section of the crankcase lendsit inherent v rigidity.

angle member 14, which is simply one of the many possible ways of accomplishing rigidity at the least expense of weight.

The stress members 15 extend from the cylinder head down to the crankshaft. They are guided in the lugs 17 and 18 of the cylinder head 1. A boss on each of these stress members is located under the cylinder lugs 17 and 18 and above them nuts are shown which thus tie the cylinder head to'the stress members. The latter extend through the crossmembers 13 and the divided block 11 which are secured between bosses and nuts on the stress members in a similar manner to the cylinder head. In this way the cylinder head 1 and the divided block 11 are spaced apart and rigidly held at their respective distances and the crossmember or angle 13, the cylinder structure and the bearing members are consolidated into a unitary structure. Guides 19 on the reinforcing member 13 can be used to guide the stress members and give them lateral rigidity. That is, these lugs serve to take up side thrust imparted to the rods from the cylinder. and transmit the same to the bearings. The crankcase lower half 20 can be made of sheet metal stamping as it has no work to do, its duty being simply to form a cover plate for the mechanism and to provide a sump into which the oil of the lubricating system can drain.

It will be seen that in this construction all axially-directed stresses due to any of the cycles in the operation of the engine are transferred directly from the cylinder head to the crankshaft andthe cylinder is relieved of all such duty. For instance, on the explosion stroke the explosion drives the piston downward and the tendency for it to raise the cylinder head is resisted by the stress members 15 and 16 which directly transfers the stress to the crankshaft.

Therefore, the action and reaction of the explosion come directly upon the crankshaft. The same is true on .the exhaust and compression strokes. In all three of the above'cycles the stress members 15 are under tensile stress and on (fire intake stroke the stress members are un er compression. In the latter case the stress. is very small and is such that the stress members can adeqlpately take care ofv the strain imposed upon t em. On the other three cycles due to the factthat they are under tensile stress they can resist same to best advantage. From the above it will be seen that the stress members can be made of comparatively light material, thus saving all the weight of the cylgine, or as shown on Fig. 1 t

inder and crankcase construction wherein these counter stresses are transmitted through themselves to the crankshaft. As in the case of cylinder 5 partaking of none of this duty in an equal way the crankcase 12 is free of same.

Referring to Fig. 2 the cylinder head 1 is shown with the valve mechanism 4 mounted above it; the cylinders 5 being shown with the water jacket'ti surrounding them. The reinforcing members 13 are indicated at each main bearing and the stress members 15 are shown extending from the cylinder head down to and including the divided crankshaft main bearing caps 11. In the engine shown a three bearing crankshaft is used. Should a fix" bearing crankshaft be utilized it would be possible in that case to have five stress members. It is also possible where individual cylinder construction is used to have two stress members used for each cylinder whereas in the construction shown the stress members lie in a plane perpendicular to the crankshaft of the engine. It is also possible to apply stress member units so that their plane is parallel with the crankshaft. The vertical shaft 24 is shown, which at its upper end drives the valve mechanism contained in the housing 4, and its lower end can be continued to dr1ve a pump in the crankcase lower half. In an aeronautic engine the crankshaft 10 at lts left end is extended to form the mounting 25 for a propeller.

Referring to Fig. 3 it will be noted that the stressed elements of the engine are shown. The cylinder head 1 is spaced and held in rigid relation from the crankshaft 10 by means of the stress members 15. This view shows wherein the necessary materlal is need. for proper rigidity and strength of the engine, the portion not shown bemg made of a minimum weight as their duties are small compared to the conventional con struction. The crankshaft 10,- as shown with a pinion mounting thereon meshing with the gear 26, conforms to a geared do '11 propeller drive.- In this construction an ad ded reinforcing member 27 can be added to the crankcase. A. flywheel 28 is shown mounted on the right endof the crankshaft 10.

Referring to Fig. 5 the crankcase 12 is shown with the reinforcing member 13 I'lV- eted in place. This method of attachment can be used or welding can be resorted to, o a combination of both. Arms 33 can be made of stampings and secured to the crankcase. This is one method of supporting the ene flange of the crankcase can be made sufliciently wide to form a supporting surface for the engine. The reinforcing member 13 has portions 32 which act as guides for the stress members 15. As shown on Fig. 6 these guide portions 32 are formed right out of the same stampmg. In Fig. 7 the stress member 13 has castings or forgings 34 to act as guides.

It will be seen from the above that an engine built along the lines described can be made up almost entirely of stampings, forgings and sheet metal parts. It is possible to utilize castings in certain places when they carry a heavy stress and do it all-the time. It'- is thus possibleto have the entire mass or casting serve its purpose and all unstressed portions should be eliminated thus reducing the weight of the structure to a minimum. I

Referring to Fig. 8 the crankcase IS'ShOWH of a composite"construction m. which the reinforcing element at each crankshaft main 7 v inclose the crankcase.

Rcferringto Fig. 9 the lower end of the cylinder 5 is shown inserted in the crank case 12. A sleeve 37 centralizes the cylinder within the crankcase. Thissleeve can be inserted between the crankcase and the cylinder or it can be entirely eliminated as in the previous construction shown in which the crankcase 12 guides the cylinder di-' rcctly. It is possible to have the sleeve 37 made oi a low melting point inetal, for instance, a metal similar to babbitt. The cylinder 5'after assembly is aligned .so that the borc'is in its proper relation to the crankshaft and crank pin. variation in the concentricity of the cylinder and the'crankcase flange the metal can be poured in to fill the intervening space and form the sleeve 37, thus. leaving. the cylinder and crankshaftin absolute alignment.

Referring; to Fig. 10 thecvlinder 5 is guided by the crankcase 12 and in order to prevent any possibility of oil leaking outward from the crankcase, a plate 38 is provided which forms a packing gland for the metal 39 which fills up the intervening space. i

Referring to Fig. 11 the stress member 40 is shown in one of its possible forms of construction. It is here indicated as a forging in which the-main portion is an I-beam section. The-upper end 41 and the lower end 42 are machined to fit the cylinder head and crankshaftdivided blocks respectively. They can be machined by running a hollow mill oven them. Lateral rigidity can be secured by the cross arms 43 and'44. It is Should there be a further possible to support the engine dircctly from the stress members other than by the crankcase should it be so desired. For instance, the crossbar 44 is provided with a boss to which a cross supporting member can be secured.

The stress member can be made of tubing as shown in Fig. 12. The tube 45 can have swedged ends 46 and 47 and its section 7 throughout its length varied according to the stress of a beam.

Referring to Fig. 13 the stress members 48 and 49 are shown as bars and lateral rigidity can be secured by the casting, forging or stamping 50 which has bosses 51 into which the stress members pass.

It will be seen that in the figures already shown the stress member performs another duty, namely, supporting the valve mechanism. Figs. 1 and 2 show this clearly in which the members continue upward above the cylinder head and hold the valve mechanism in spaced relation from the cylinder head.

Referring to Fig. 14 an L head engine is shown. The cylinder head 52 contains the valves 53, valve passages,etc., and in a similar manner to the overhead valve coustruction already shown, the cylinder 54 is held in the cylinder head. The cylinder jacket 55 surrounds the cylinder and its lower end is provided witha packing material made of rubber, cork composition or equally suitable material. Such a packing allows further freedom of the cylinder so that it may. expand and contract without any stress being placed upon thejacket materialitselt. The latter can. however, be stressed more or less by making it of corrugated section. The cylinder head is provided with bosses 57 and 58 and into these bosses the'stress members are placed and hold the cylinder head in spaced fixed relation to the crankshaft, as already described. It will be seen 'that any form of cylinder head construction can be utilized and still employ the stress member construction. It will be seen that a further advantage of this method of construction other than the elimination of weight, freedom of cylinder expansion, is that the cylinder head remains in fixed relation to the crankshaft center. The stress members are in a comparatively cool location and as they are not subject to heat such as are the cylinders of the conventional engine they do not expand and the cold or hot engine of my construction therefore has its cylinder head in the same relation to the crankshaft at all times; There is, therefore, no possibility of the c linder head raising in relation to the cran shaft, thereby-causing an alteration in the compression space. Due to this fact the valve mechanism is continually in fixed relation to the. crankshaft and therefore there is no alteration in the timing of the valve operating mechanism or it is unduly stressed. This latter result is obtained in the conventional form of construction especially in cases Where the cylinder expansion is liable to cause an alteration of the timing due to altered tappet clearance 0' an error caused by dislocating one of the train of gears in the valve driving mechanism.

It will be seen that the stress member in my improved form of construction does a number of things.

Other than its prime duty of transferring the counter stress of the explosion to the crankshaft thereby allowing the light construction shown, it acts as a support for the valve mechanism in an overhead valve engine and can also be used as a means of supporting the engine; Due to the fact that its main work is tensile stress its weight will be very small and far less than the weight of the material in the cylinders and crankcase which it makes possible to eliminate. The entire stress member can be formed of a stamping with forgings secured in the ends of it to which the cylinder head and crank shaft divided blocks are secured.

While I have shown a number of constructions, it will readily be seen that various modifications in detail and arrangement are possible within the scope of my invention, without departing from the spirit thereof. For instance, this same construction already described is applicable to the V type engines and engines of any number of cylinders.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder head and cylinder, a crank shaft, bearings for the crank shaft, stress rods connecting said head and bearings in fixed relation and supporting said head and cylinder, and a crank case se cured to said bearings, having. a still arched upper portion, having a cylindrical opening therein, in which the lower end of said cylinder is mounted with a sliding lit.

2. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder head and cylinder, a crank shaft, bearings for the crank shaft, stress rods connecting said head and cylinder. hearings in fixed relation and supporting said head and cylinder, and acrank cascsecured to said bearings, having a stiff upper portion, having lugs thereon through which said rods extend, arranged to takeup A side thrust of said rods.

3. In an internal combustion engine, the combmat-lon of a cylinder head and cylinder, a crank shaft, bearings for the crank shaft. stress rods directly and fixedly connecting said head and bearings, and serving to trans mit all axially directed stresses from the cylinder hE Q to the crank shaft, and reinforcing means secured to said bearings. slidably engaging the lower end of sald cylinder, and serving to take up side thrust of said cylinder.

4. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder head, valve operating mechanism above the same, a crank shaft, and means comprising stress members for directly connecting said head and crank shaft in fixed relation, said members being extended above said head, and said valve mechanism being supported by the extended portions of the members, the valve mechanism thereby being maintained in fixed relation to the crank shaft.

5. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder head, a crank shaft, bearings for the crank shaft, an arched crank case, reinforcements therefor adjacent said bearings having arched flanges secured to the crank case, webs normal thereto, and flanges extending across said bearings, stress rods connecting said head and bearings in fixed relation and supporting said head, said rods extending through said last-named flanges, and means on said rods for securing said last-named flanges and said bearings fixedly together, the crank case being arranged to support the engine.

6. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder head, a crank shaft, bearing members for the crank shaft, an arched crank case having webs parallel to the axis of the cylinder head, in planes intersecting said bearing members, with flanges normal to said axis, adjacent said bearing members, and stress rods secured to and supporting said cylinder heads, and extending through said flanges and bearing members, said rods havin securing means thereon rigidly securing said rods, flanges and bearing members together.

7. In an internal combustion engine, the

combination of a cylinder head, a crank shaft, bearing members for the crank shaft an arched crank case having webs parallel to the axis of the cylinder head, in planes intersecting said bearing members, with flanges normal to said axis, adjacent said bearing members, said webs having lugs thereon, and stress rods secured to and supportin said cylinder head, and extending through said lugs and through said flanges and bearing members, said rods having securing means thereon rigidly securing said rods, flanges and bearing members together.

8. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder, a crank case, a crank shaft therein, having a crank pin, an opening in'said crank case larger than said cylinder, in which the lower end of said cylinder extends. and intervening material between said opening and cylinder to maintain alignment of said cylinder in said openingwith said crank pin.

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9. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder, a crank case, a crank shaft therein, havlng a crank plIl, an

opening in said crankcase larger than said cylinder, in which the lower end ofsaid cyl-' inder extends, and a-metal of low melting temperature poured between said opening andc linder vto maintain alignment of said lorcements for said crank case adjacent said.

bearings having arched flanges secured to the crank case, webs normal thereto, and flanges extending across said bearings.

12, In an internal combustion engine, in combination, a cylinder head, a crank case, a cylinder arranged between said head and case, stress rods connecting" said head and case, said case having an opening in its upper portion in which the lower end of said cylinder is mounted with a sliding fit, a water jacket surrounding the upper part of said cylinder, packing material betweensaid jacket and said cylinder, whereby said cylcase and jacket.

vinder may ex and and contract longitudinally indepen ently of said case and acket.

13. In aminternal combustion engine, the combination with a crank case-and. a cylinder head, means connecting the head to the crank case in separated relation thereto, a cylinder connected to the head and extending downwardly into an opening in the crank case, packin material between the cylinder and the cran k case, a water-jacket connected to the head and surrounding the upper part of saiducylinder, and" packm tweensaid jacket and said cy inder, whereby the; cylinder may expand and contract longitudinally independently of'the crank 14. In an internal der-head, means connecting the head to the crank case in separated relation thereto, a cylinder connected to the head vand extending downwardly into an opening in the crank case, packing material between the cylinder and the crank case,'a water jacket connected to the head andsurrounding the upper part of said cylinder, said jacketing 1ndependent of the means for connecting the head tothe crank case, and packing material between said jacket and said cylinder, wherebythe cylinder ma expand and contract longi tudinally in ependently of the crank case and jacket,

Signed by me, this ltlth day of July, 1917..

AUSTIN WLR material hecombustion engine, the combination with a crank case and a cylintilt 

